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Another extremely useful print resource is the "Requirements" book. This book lists all the requirements for all ranks and merit badges, and many other awards. It does not cover high adventure awards available locally and I don't think it covers all the details of all the religious awards. Nevertheless I found this to be an indispensable resource. Whenever someone has a question about a merit badge you can look it up and see what is involved. Obviously this does not have any of the instructional content of the merit badge pamphlets, but it does allow you to assess what is involved in any badge. This used to be published every two years. More recently there was one published for 2000 and one for 2001. Unfortunately our council does not have the 2002 edition in yet. No scoutmaster or advancement chair should be without this.

I have personally known only one scout since I have been an adult who ever earned a palm. This was several years ago and the requirements may have changed somewhat. In that case the palm was presented at his eagle court of honor. Even with the time in grade requirement this could have been totally legitimate since DOR is the date of the successful BOR. In the case I am thinking about, the boy would have had his BOR much earlier, although I don't know how much earlier. Personally I don't see why palms could not be presented at an eagle court, if in fact they have been earned during the interval between the BOR and the ceremony.

Bob White, The uniform question for boards of review is relatively trivial. Most units have policies that scouts show up for BOR in complete uniform, as defined by the unit. Our troop for example, neither requires nor encourages the acquisition or wearing of the BSA baseball type hat. I am more concerned about the overall role of the BOR compared to the role of the scoutmaster and the scoutmaster conference. I think I understand this, but I would like to hear more. In other threads there have even been questions raised as to whether a BOR had the authority to refuse a rank promotion. If that is true, why bother with a BOR? Your thoughts?

Brad, If you were merely called out, but never made it to an ordeal, you are not a member of OA. You have twelve months from the time of election to complete an ordeal. Some lodges have some flexibility on this and begin counting the twelve months from the date a candidate was called out. If I am interpreting your post correctly, and you were called out two years ago, your candidacy has expired. You need to talk to your local district OA advisor, if there is such a person, or contact the lodge advisor, to find out where you stand. Provided you meet the eligibility requirements currently, your committee can always resubmit your name if the committee wants to do that. Even so, the nomination has to be approved by the adult OA advisor hierarchy. It is unfortunate that scoutmasters sometimes blow this whole thing off, since they are depriving their youth members of the possibility of a serious honor that strongly reinforces the ideals of scouting. Even if the unit leadership is not solidly behind the OA program, unit elections should still be held to at least give youth the option of participating.

While hypothermia is an obvious risk in paddling in cold water, and in snow camping, the risk is not fully appreciated in other settings. People get into trouble with this even in simple day hikes when they caught in the rain too far from help without appropriate gear. The ambient air temperature does not have to be below freezing for hypothermia to be a risk. Be Prepared!

One thing that le Voyageur mentioned that is left off of most lists is a space blanket. This is a very compact lightweight piece of material that unfolds into a blanket that can be very helpful in cases of hypothermia or ordinary shock. I think I mentioned this in another thread, but I will repeat it here. This is not a first aid item. Be sure to take some toilet paper. The very first outing I ever went on as an adult scouter was a Webelos day hike. A kid got diarhea (spelling?), and we were not prepared.

It seems to me that the OA national would frown on membership in two lodges. So big deal. Where's the harm in paying dues twice if you choose to do so? If you want to receive newsletters etc. from your former lodge, pay up and enjoy. Chances are no one will notice.

I have been ignoring the troll for a long time now. I won't even repeat his name.

Assuming that your troop goes to summer camp, talking that up as an immediate activity should have some beneficial impact on recruiting. Even if a boy doesn't plan on crossing over until May or June, we try to encourage him and his parents to plan on going to summer camp. It seems to help.

I hope your son has documented his communications with the director. If he has not, he should prepare a timeline to the best of his recollection. This could become very important if some sort of appeal within the scouting organization becomes necessary. The suggestion to contact your district advancement chair, and possibly the council advancement chair, is also sound. Chances are that this sort of thing has come up before and these worthies could offer sound advice as to what would be acceptable alternatives.

"The Cremation of Sam MaGee" by Robert Service

As noted above, there are many things that women who are not comfortable with camping can do to support the program. The single most effective advancement chair I ever saw was a mom. As I have also commented in other threads, we try to identify specific adults to take on the responsibility for specific outings when we meet as a large group to put together our calendar for the year. We call these people "trek leaders" even where no real walking is involved. Trek leaders may or may not be ASMs. In fact, getting experienced outdoorsmen who are new to the unit to take on a trek is a good way of getting them more involved in the total program.

Whatever works. The nice thing about campfires in winter is that you don't have to worry too much about fire conditions posted by the authorities restricting you. Still follow the rules and use common sense.

The use of walkie talkies on treks came up on an unrelated thread about a year ago. Most of the regulars thought that walkie talkies should be available, but left turned off on treks and outings. My attitude is that I see these as another safety device that is relatively cheap and easy to carry. I would rather have one available.

Come to think of it, I've never seen, and never sought, a job description for ASM. We have tried with limited success to assign an ASM to each patrol, who we refer to as a "patrol mentor." When it works, it is a big help. One of the primary roles of the ASM is to stand in for the Scoutmaster when the Scoutmaster is absent. I don't think ASMs should be taking on collateral duties that can be assigned to other "non uniformed" volunteers. However, one finds ASMs doing all kinds of things, just because they see a need.

I hope that I didn't come across as too negative about animals in general. Scouting can afford opportunities for scouts to be around and work with animals in a variety of ways that are very positive. What sometimes bugs me is when somebody shows up unexpectedly with Rover, expecting Rover to be accepted and everybody to take care of Rover.

Nope.

The community strips are one element of the old uniforms that I personally miss. It was always interesting to see immediately where people came from. It also signaled that scouting was truly widespread.

Another excellent reference is: The Essential Wilderness Navigator (second edition) by David Seidman & Paul Cleveland ISBN 0-07-136110-3 This book begins at the beginning and includes many useful drawings to illustrate the techniques. I envy the skill of the Air Force Navigator mentioned above. Fortunately in boy scouts we are not faced with those kinds of situations.

Based on my limited understanding of, and lack of interest in, Wicca, I am not going to condemn it. They all seem to be law abiding citizens. There are more serious things to get excited about.

I feel compelled to respond to le Voyageur for a variety of reasons. His techniques and advice are interesting and no doubt useful in some situations. However, I think it would be a mistake to go into such detail with younger scouts. Let me explain. 1. The techniques he describes are well beyond the comprehension of new scouts who are trying to learn so many new skills at once. I daresay that most of the techniques are beyond the comprehension of many readers of these posts. That does not mean that adults and older scouts cannot be taught more advanced techniques. In teaching any skill you must keep in mind the target audience. 2. On any scout outing, be it canoe trip, long distance trek, or simple day hike, there should be at least two compasses available in case one becomes lost or damaged. 3. We teach scouts, if lost or separated from the group, to stop where they are, make themselves as comfortable as they can, and await rescue. I would not want to encourage scouts, or anybody, to attempt to navigate their way out of a "lost" situation without a compass. I would not want to build overconfidence in half learned and half remembered techniques. 4. Anyone who understands, remembers, and can apply all these techniques is unlikely ever to need them. 5. Few scout outings with younger scouts will involve cross country navigation. LNT principles urge us to use established trails. Therefore I think the navigation skills that need to be emphasized are: a. Basic map reading. b. Relating what is on the map to what is on the ground. Not many adults are good at this either. c. Orienting a map. d. Understanding and being able to consider and apply declination. e. Being able to apply simple methods of celestial navigation. With respect to this, we all should take the opportunity on camping trips when conditions are suitable, to refresh everyone's knowledge of the major constellations that can be used for direction finding. The point about boys, and leaders, not being able to locate Polaris is well taken. I guess my reaction to all of le Voyageur's technical suggestions is that I prefer to keep things simple. To me, direction finding without a compass need be accurate to only a limited degree and enable me to roughly orient my map without a compass. If I can get the map oriented, I can then relate the map to what I see on the ground with sufficient accuracy. Very few people really can relate what they see on the ground to what they see on the map. In the back country with few man made objects, this is not as straightforward as it might seem. This requires training in observation and interpretation. This is where I would put the emphasis. It might be fun and interesting to attempt a long distance trek without a compass, but that is not something I would attempt with younger scouts, and that is the target audience we are talking about.

I agree that federal funding for school construction in the 50s and 60s is unlikely. However these days the feds are involved in everything under the sun, and if a question of disposition of public property arises, one needs to ask if federal funds were ever involved and what that might mean.

There is another distraction for teenage boys that I don't think anybody mentioned (I was skimming). That is the discovery of humans who are female. Can't do much about that.

I like the idea of taking the kid to the emergency room if all the out of pockets are covered. Obviously this is something the parents have to buy into. But it might make a difference in his subsequent behavior. We too have a very intelligent scout with a variety of problems, including ADD. He too will talk on forever. He doesn't fake injuries, but we have learned to ignore his chatter, unless it has something to do with the subject at hand. When he realizes he is being ignored he shuts up and moves on.

If I were doing a third rinse, I would use the bleach in the last rinse. As far as I know, air drying will evaporate any bleach residue right along with the water. I have used dishes and water bottles that smelled faintly of bleach and never got ill. Of course I do have this funny twitch....